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Stoicism

Stoicism was one of the most important and influential traditions in
the philosophy of the Hellenistic world. It claimed the adherence of a
large portion of the educated persons in the Graeco-Roman world. It had
considerable influence on the development of early Christianity. The Roman
Stoics, Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius were widely read and
absorbed by the Western cultural tradition. Indeed, the very word 'stoic'
has, in the popular sense, become synonymous with 'philosophical' and has
come to represent that courage and calmness in the face of adverse and
trying circumstances which was the hallmark of the ancient Stoics.

Background

It is one of the ironies of history that Alexander, once a student of
Aristotle, was in large part responsible for undermining the Hellenic
political climate to which the classical Greek thought of Plato and
Aristotle was inextricably tied. As the free city-state of Hellenic Greece
gave way to the empire of the Hellenistic world, the sharp distinction
between Greek and barbarian was replaced by the more cosmopolitan view
reflective of Stoicism. Persons were less citizens of their particular
city-states than citizens of the empire. It is to be expected that
philosophy would reflect this change, and that is what we find in the
philosophical schools of the Hellenistic period. Interest shifted from the
speculative systems of classical Greece to a concern for the individual's
well-being in the more complex cultural environment of the Hellenistic
period. Given its particularly ethical interest, it is not surprising that
Stoicism borrowed many of its cosmological and metaphysical ideas from
earlier, pre-Socratic philosophers. While the Epicureans adopted the
atomism of Democritus, the Stoics borrowed their cosmology from
Heraclitus.

Its founder, Zeno (c 336-264 BCE)
(not to be confused with the Eleatic Zeno), discussed philosophical ideas at the
agora in the Stoa Poikile, Painted Colonnade, or porch and thus his
followers came to be called Stoics or "philosophers of the porch". Like so many
others, Zeno was impressed with the thought and character of Socrates.
Interpreting the Socratic model from the point of view of the Cynics,
Antisthenes, Diogenes, and Crates of Thebes, of whom Zeno was for a time a
disciple, Zeno admired most in Socrates his strength of character and
independence of external circumstances. From Zeno's point of view, virtue
resided not in external fortune, wealth, honor, and the like, but in
self-sufficiency and a kind of rational ordering of intention.

Principal Ideas

Later Stoics of the Hellenistic period, including Cleanthes of Assos (c 331-233
BCE) and Chrysippus (c 281-208 BCE),
developed Stoicism as a systematic body of doctrine, complete with a system of
logic, epistemology, and cosmology. In logic, the Stoics developed the logic of
propositions more recently formalized by Frege and Bertrand Russell. Chrysippus
was recognized by his contemporaries as the equal of Aristotle in logic. Stoic
epistemology was decidedly empiricist and nominalist in spirit. They rejected
both Plato's and Aristotle's notions of form. There are no abstract universals,
either apart from particulars, as Plato would have it, or in particular
substances, as Aristotle held. Only particular things exist and our knowledge of
them is based on the impressions they make upon the soul. Our knowledge of
particular objects is therefore based on sense perception, as is our knowledge
of our mental states and activities, our soul itself being a material thing.

Metaphysically, the Stoics were materialists. While all that exists is
material, nevertheless there are two principles of reality. The passive
principle is matter devoid of quality. Borrowing from Heraclitus, the
Stoics identified the active principle of reality with the Logos,
Reason, or God. Unlike later Christian versions, the Stoic view of the
Logos is both materialistic and pantheistic. God has no existence
distinct from the rational order of nature and should not be construed as
a personal, transcendent deity of the sort essential to later Western
theism.

The Stoics were determinists, even fatalists, holding that whatever happens
happens necessarily. Not only is the world such that all events are determined
by prior events, but the universe is a perfect, rational whole. For all their
interests in logic and speculative philosophy, the primary focus of Stoicism is
practical and ethical. Knowledge of nature is of instrumental value only. Its
value is entirely determined by its role in fostering the life of virtue
understood as living in accord with nature. This practical aspect of Stoicism is
especially prevalent in the Roman Stoic, Epictetus (c 50-138 CE), who
developed the ethical and religious side of Stoicism. This practical side of
Stoicism can be understood in terms of a number of key ideas taught by
Epictetus.

The life of virtue is the life in accordance with nature. Since for
the Stoic nature is rational and perfect, the ethical life is a life lived
in accordance with the rational order of things. "Do not seek to have
events happen as you want them to, but instead want them to happen as they
do happen, and your life will go well" (Handbook, ch. 8).

Essential to appreciating this Stoic theme is the recognition of the
difference between those things that are within our power and those not
within our power.

Our opinions are up to us, and our impulses, desires,
aversions--in short, whatever is our doing. Our bodies are not up to us,
nor our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or, that is,
whatever is not our doing...So remember, if you think that things
naturally enslaved are free or that things not your own are your own, you
will be thwarted, miserable, and upset, and will blame both the gods and
men.(Handbook, ch. 1)

The only thing over which we have control, therefore, is the faculty
of judgment. Since anything else, including all external affairs and acts
of others, are not within our power, we should adopt toward them the
attitude of indifference. Toward all that is not within our power we
should be apathetic.

What upsets people is not things themselves but their
judgments about the things. For example, death is nothing dreadful (or
else it would have appeared so to Socrates), but instead the judgment
about death is that it is dreadful, that is what is dreadful.
(Handbook, ch. 5)

To avoid unhappiness, frustration, and disappointment, we, therefore,
need to do two things: control those things that are within our
power (namely our beliefs, judgments, desires , and attitudes) and be
indifferent or apathetic to those things which are not in our power
(namely, things external to us).

Toward those unfortunate things that are not within our power which we
cannot avoid (for example, death and the actions and opinions of others)
the proper attitude is one of apathy. Distress is the result of our
attitudes towards things, not the things themselves. This is the consoling
feature of Stoic fatalism. It is absurd to become distraught over
externals for the same reason that it is absurd to become distressed over
the past; both are beyond our power. The Stoic is simply adopting toward
all things the only logical attitude appropriate to the past--indifference.

It is tempting to characterize Stoicism as an emotionally cold, not to
say sterile, moral outlook. Epictetus certainly provides ample material
upon which to base such a charge. Yet this is at least misleading. It is
not so much emotion as passion understood as excessive attachment which is
Epictetus' target. It is crucial to recall that Epictetus, as the other
Stoics, was concerned to provide an account of moral virtue, not a general
theory of value.

Stoicism and Christianity

In recent decades one might have been considered competently acquainted
with ancient philosophy if one knew the main outlines of the ideas of the
pre-Socratics, Plato, and Aristotle. Knowledge of the Hellenistic
philosophies of Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism along with the
Roman traditions that followed was not considered essential. These
traditions were thought to embody ancient philosophy in its decline. This
certainly does not reflect the overall influence of Stoicism on the
Western tradition.

In the first place a recognizable Stoic school persisted for some five
hundred years in antiquity. While it differed from Christianity in
fundamental ways (it was materialistic and pantheistic), nonetheless
Christianity defined itself in an intellectual environment pervaded by
Stoic ideas of the logos. Furthermore, for much of modern Western
history, Stoic ideas of moral virtue have been second to none in
influence. Stoic ideas regarding the natural order of things and of each
rational soul as a divine element provided one basis upon which later
ideas of natural law were erected. Kant's conception of the pre-eminent
value of the Good Will and the moral indifference of external
circumstances, though not entirely Stoic, shows the influence of Stoicism.
In addition, Spinoza's conception of the promotion of the active over and
against the passive emotions further reflects the pervasive influence of
Stoic ideas. The notion of virtue as conforming to the rational order of
things suggests the Christian idea of conforming one's will to divine
providence. The influence of Stoicism on subsequent Western ethical and
religious thought testifies to its continuing importance.